


Mind The Gap

by Tridraconeus



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Lonely Rat Boy lives AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21671899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tridraconeus/pseuds/Tridraconeus
Summary: Across the way, he saw a Whaler in a red coat crouched down on a rooftop. Too slight to be Daud, and he rarely played sentry anyway, so it must be Billie. He grinned to himself; it had been a while since he’d said hello to her. It was an odd sensation, both being happy to see someone and wanting to actually be close to them.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 37





	Mind The Gap

**Author's Note:**

> if you haven't i highly recommend checking out scheppke's [lrb lives au](https://scheppke.tumblr.com/tagged/lrb-lives-au) because i'm stressed to hell and back and wrote this in the short period of time between brushing my teeth and going to bed

The boy ducked under a rotted-out beam and into the swell of the Flooded District. It was familiar by now; the hagfish swirling below, the rats scurrying along corrugated walkways and near-submerged porches, the far-off moaning and hacking and misery of Weepers. He heard an echoing bay of a wolfhound from far ahead, patrolling the drier areas of the Chamber of Commerce.

A shadow passed over him. He was being watched, in a detached and kindly way. Whichever assassin it was must be busy. He twisted his head belatedly to catch sight of absolutely nothing, then turned back and forged on ahead. His limbs washed over with relief that he wouldn’t be talked to, and then a slight twinge of guilt for the relief. He squeezed his left hand into a fist— reflected, for a moment, on how easily he could make the ground boil over into fat, furious bodies. The guilt faded, as did the relief. He reached out with the power of the Mark to cross a too-wide-for-jumping gap, hopped and skipped across a series of porches and walkways, and settled down in one of the upper-level apartment units to catch his breath and warm up.

Across the way, he saw a Whaler in a red coat crouched down on a rooftop. Too slight to be Daud, and he rarely played sentry anyway, so it must be Billie. He grinned to himself; it had been a while since he’d said hello to her. It was an odd sensation, both being happy to see someone and wanting to actually be close to them.

A transversal took him to her rooftop, a respectful distance away. She knew he was there. She didn’t react to his presence at all— she let him approach on his own time, creeping forward step by step until he was at her side.

“Billie.”

She sat back on her haunches. “Hey, little man.”

It made something in him grow when she said that; swelling in his chest. Pride, maybe. He sat down cross-legged next to her.

“What’s up?” Her hand was resting on the hilt of her wicked butcher’s blade, but there was no threat to the gesture. It was training, ease of habit, and she shifted back down to one knee and placed that hand on the rooftop ledge soon enough when he took his time in responding.

“Looking for runes.”

“Found any?” Her tone was indulgent. She wasn’t on sentry duty, he realized, but looking for something or someone. If she were a sentry she would be moving from rooftop to rooftop, not guarding over a checkpoint.

Logically, she shouldn’t want him close in case he distracted her. She hadn’t told him to go away (and she would, if she needed to— she had before) so either it wasn’t important or she didn’t mind being distracted.

He crept forward to be next to her, mirroring her position half-leaning out over the floodway.

The ground was so very far. The water moved slowly, a lazy current where it wasn’t dead still. Hagfish surfaced occasionally to grab a rat by the dangling tail.

It was a long, long drop. He’d better be careful, or else—

The Mark pulsed, suddenly warm. “I know,“ he said to it. Billie _huh_ ed at him.

“Talking to somebody?”

“The Outsider,” he managed with as much dignity as possible. He hoped she wouldn’t ask if he talked back.

“And is he talking to you?”

Damn it. He shook his head. “He can only really... talk to me at shrines.”

Another _huh_ , softer this time.

“Well, you should go talk to him.”

“Huh?” _He_ said, stupidly, and was too slow to avoid her hand firmly pushing him by the small of his back off the roof. “Hey!” He shouted, _too loud!,_ as the windows rushed by and the water rushed closer, but she was a good teacher and he was a quick study and so he landed safely on his feet, ferried away from the water by a well-timed transversal. He looked up at her, crouched a measure more smugly on the rooftop, and didn’t need to see her face to know she was amused. She waved a hand at him— dismissal. She was busy. Before he left he shook his head at her, but he was smiling.

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos appreciated! rarely if ever do i write a fic and post it within 24 hours; this is history, folks. art done by [scheppke.](https://scheppke.tumblr.com/post/189477792844/a-little-bit-of-fanart-of-speckeltails-one-shot)


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